Albright's Oct. 8 Interview on CNN's Late Edition
INTERVIEW OF SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
BY CNN'S LATE EDITION
October 8, 2000
Washington, D.C.
MR. BLITZER: Now joining us to talk about these latest developments in
Yugoslavia as well as the Middle East is the US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Good to see you, Wolf.
MR. BLITZER: Welcome back to LATE EDITION. Let's begin with the crisis
in the Middle East right now. As you know, yesterday, the Israeli
Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, imposed a 48-hour deadline. He says the
Palestinians must end the fighting. It's now 24 hours -- it's been 24
hours. Is this a good idea for him to impose this kind of deadline,
some call it an ultimatum?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, I think this has to be put into context.
What has been going on here is increasing violence in terms of the
Israelis feeling under siege by the Palestinian rock-throwers and the
street gangs, the Tanzin, and feeling that basically, as they have
pulled back from places, the Palestinians have moved in.
Obviously, there is also a lot of criticism of too much use of
firepower by the Israelis and tremendous frustration at the fact that
they are not able to move on with the peace process. I think that in
the various interviews and statements that Prime Minister Barak has
made in the last days, he is showing that he really does want to have
a peace process work. He wants a partner. He does want a peace
process.
What is important here now is for all of us to work to lessen the
violence, because this cycle of violence has to be broken. There has
to be disengagement, and the security measures that we worked out in
Paris have to be put into place.
MR. BLITZER: He's now raising questions, Prime Minister Barak, about
Yasser Arafat's commitment to the peace process. I want you to listen
to what the Prime Minister said earlier today on "Meet The Press."
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EHUD BARAK, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Until now, I ordered our people
not to act but just to respond. From now on, if it will become clear
that there is no partner, we will have to see him as a rival, not a
partner, and to act upon this judgment accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MR. BLITZER: Are you convinced that Yasser Arafat is still committed
to the peace process as envisaged by the Israelis?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think that Yasser Arafat has made some very hard
decisions in the last seven years in showing that he wants the peace
process to move forward. I think that he is someone who wants peace
for his people. The question is whether anyone, at this point, whether
they are looking -- his people -- at the steps that are possible there
to move forward in the peace process.
I hate to begin to think that Yasser Arafat is not a partner. He has
been a partner. He needs to regain control over what is going on, and
they need to disengage and get back to the peace track. We had been
working on it; we were so close, Wolf. I think that there are many
good ideas on the table. It's important for them to get back to the
peace table.
MR. BLITZER: You have heard the Israelis say -- and I'm sure they have
said to you directly -- that if Yasser Arafat wanted this to stop, he
has the authority to stop it -- his security services. He could put
out the word to stop the stone-throwing, stop the demonstrations, get
back to the peace negotiations.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I believe that it's important for him to regain
control; that he has had control. He is somebody that I think is
obviously the leader of the Palestinian people. He is respected. He
needs to control the various layers. And there are many layers here,
Wolf. I think that is part of the complication. But it is essential
that both sides really work very hard to lower the level of violence
and blame-placing. What has to happen here is to look to the future,
and not a future of stone-throwing and tanks but of basically getting
back to the peace talks.
MR. BLITZER: Are you saying he does not have the authority, the power
right now, to control this situation?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I believe that, you know, he is their recognized
ruler and he needs to -- we expect him to exert the control.
MR. BLITZER: We heard from one of his chief supporters, Hanan Ashrawi,
earlier today on ABC's "This Week," who is making it very clear,
speaking for the Palestinians, that the situation is not their fault.
It is the Israelis who are responsible for this deterioration. I want
you to hear what Hanan Ashrawi said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANAN ASHRAWI, MEMBER OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY'S LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL: We will not go gentle into that good night, if they insist on
shooting and killing us. At least we have the right to defend
ourselves. We are not occupying their territory. The Israelis are
occupying Palestinian territory.... (END VIDEO CLIP)
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think that the bottom line here is that there is
violence that has escalated and that the Israelis feel besieged by the
stone-throwing and the various violence on the streets, and they are
reacting. The truth is that looking for who started what when, you'd
have to go back thousands of years. The point here is to move forward
and not get into a posture where it is impossible to break the cycle
of violence.
I would hope that they could in fact move ahead. Let me tell you
something very interesting. These measures that we worked out in Paris
were a way that the security people from both sides would be able to
meet with our facilitation. That is going on as we speak.
MR. BLITZER: But it hasn't stopped the violence.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: No. But they -- it has gone -- there have been
kind of ups and downs in it. And I think that we have to just keep
watching and waiting; but these security measures have to get into
place. They have to disengage. They have to. I think that we are not
going to get anywhere if we try to point fingers. We just have to move
forward to a future that is good for the Palestinian and Israeli
peoples.
MR. BLITZER: Your Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke,
immediately after the US decision to abstain on that resolution passed
14 to nothing with one abstention -- the United States -- he called it
so very one sided. He, in effect, condemned the resolution. Why did
the Clinton Administration -- why did President Clinton -- I assume it
went up to his level -- decide to abstain instead of veto that
resolution?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think it obviously is a one-sided resolution. We
wanted it and Ambassador Holbrooke worked to try to get a more
balanced resolution. It was not possible. We did think and talk about
this a long time.
We have to remember what our role is. Our role in the Middle East is
to try to be the negotiator, the mediator, the honest broker, and to
be able to work with both sides. That is one reason that we felt that
an abstention was appropriate. The other is that we have larger
responsibilities within the whole region, and we had to look at the
effect of a veto on that. But I truly do believe we knew that this
resolution was lopsided. Ambassador Holbrooke made that statement in
his, what's called the explanation of vote. And we think that this was
the best position, and frankly the only position, for the United
States to take at this time.
MR. BLITZER: You met with Barak and Arafat in Paris and al-Sharm
el-Sheikh. Is there anything specific right now that the US Government
is planning on doing to try to ease this situation, get the peace
talks back on track?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, we are talking to everybody.
MR. BLITZER: Any meetings planned, anything like that?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: We are looking at various options. We did just
meet, as you said, in Paris; Prime Minister Barak did not come to
Sharm el Sheikh. But it is not just matter of meetings. What it is is
trying to talk to the parties, trying to lower the temperature. We are
very concerned about the fact that three Israeli soldiers were
kidnapped by the Hezbollah.
I spoke to Foreign Minister Shara of Syria yesterday and to President
Lahud of Lebanon. I've been speaking to Kofi Annan because this is a
violation of Resolution 425. And because also, as you know, some
Palestinians broke through the fence that was at the border, and so we
are working on lessening the tensions there and trying through these
security groups with our facilitation to lower the temperature.
MR. BLITZER: Any prospect those three Israeli soldiers are about to be
returned?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I have no recent information on that, but there is
a lot of concern about it not only from us and the United Nations, but
other countries also.
MR. BLITZER: Very quickly, there's been some suggestion that Saddam
Hussein in Iraq is looking at this situation in this month before the
US presidential election, thinking that perhaps this is a time for him
to do something.
Is the US Government getting any of those indications, any of those
reports?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, we're always suspicious of what Saddam
Hussein is doing. But at the moment, I've been told there are no
unusual movements. We have also made very clear our red lines, which
are that he cannot threaten his neighbors or our forces, or
reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, or move against the
Kurds in the North. We have a force in region, and we have made our
position very clear.
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